Alexandria, Va.: One of the objections raised against Bush nominee Daniel Pipes is that he runs a Web site called Campus Watch that in the past has criticized professors for what those professors taught and said.
Do you have any problem with anyone criticizing Brookings Institution staff for what those staff members have taught or said? (Assuming, of course, that the criticisms are not libelous.)
In general, my colleagues are not against criticism. It’s a component of a healthy national debate. We engage in criticism ourselves, although we try hard (and I think successfully) to keep it from being ad hominem or partisan -- i.e., we try to make it constructive. I do have strong reservations about what I’d call “attack research” and any sort of criticism that labels as unpatriotic questions raised about ANY administration’s policies.